Whitmergate checked in last night with some analysis on Slabbed’s open thread:
WWL, in collaboration with Jeremy Alford of The Jefferson Report, followed up on the Non-Elector Asst PAs who had remained on the payroll illegally. Young announced that Jeremy Dwyer and Danielle Mitternight were fired.
Peggy Barton was Supervisor of Asst PAs under Wilkinson, and knew that Dwyer did not live in Jefferson Parish. In fact Dwyer gave two zip codes, one of which is 70124 which is Lakeview in Orleans Parish. Dwyer and Barton both conspired, along with Wilkinson in payroll fraud as the Parish Charter mandates that all Asst PAs be electors of Jefferson Parish. Dwyer is also a cousin of Louis Gruntz, the other 1st Deputy Parish Atty, who along with Wilkinson and then 1st Deputy Parish Atty Barton knew Dwyer was holding that position illegally.
Danielle Mitternight was hired by Interim Parish Attorney Peggy Barton as a senior Asst PA at a salary in excess og $70,000 dollars, all of which has been paid illegally. She had previously clerked for Chief Justice Kimball of the La Supreme Court, and was hired out of the CONNICK LAW FIRM ! Mitternight also gave two zip codes, however like Dwyer, the 70124 Lakeview Orleans Parish is where she has her primary residence and domicile.
The print story is online at WWL-TV and can be accessed by clicking here. The WWL video report follows:
[swf]http://www.wwltv.com/v/?i=119743589[/swf]
John Young isn’t proactively cleaning up anything folks but he is acting when his hand is forced. Ms Mitternight coming from the DA’s law firm is worth noting as it could well be the Parish Attorney’s office was used as an employment backstop for those connected to the politically connected. That would have been fine had these folks actually lived in Jefferson Parish.
As ‘Gate points out:
ALL of the people involve in this criminal conspiracy of payroll fraud that has been acted out for the last 15 years by Wilkinson, Barton, Gruntz and all of the individuals hired and paid illegally…..were and are lawyers!
Something tells me the Citizens for Good Government and the blogging community are not going to let this go of this until the Parish Attorney’s office is completely cleaned up.
Imagine if the people running the country discarded the constitution whenever it got in their way? Presently Jefferson Parish is a government of men rather than a government under the law. Reversing that sentence looks like it will take mucho work. Props to The Jefferson Report for helping foster positive change.
sop
{Looking at Gate’s post too here…}
“Significant turnover”? 42 to 21, and now maybe 19 is pretty significant. They’re running out of indians, especially considering there are as many a three working on the job formerly performed by one, Vandeweigh, all by herself now.
Barton might not be invited back to the PA office. They may just be giving her time to find a new situation with this temp gig in HR.
TJR has an Easter Egg hunt game up.
http://thejeffersonreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/jefferson_parish_zip_codes.jpg
Obviously this list might be somewhat dated. And does the rule apply to all, or just paralegals and attorneys?
But if Orleans is ‘701**’ zip codes then there are at least six 6 more to go — Bryant, Butler, Cedor, Foto, GRUNTZ, Ronald HOF (let’s guess, Willie’s kid?), Wilken???
Of those, Foto, GRUNTZ and HOF are shown as attorneys, no?
Also, there are two “Roberts” there – let’s guess, is Chris Roberts squirreling away relatives there too???? On the other hand that is a common enough name.
Much of the staff turnover was the elimination of the part time staff which is being replaced with a lesser number of full time positions.
And yes lots of incest.
sop
Yeah, that makes sense.
About Mitternight, she’s back at the Connick firm:
http://www.connicklaw.com/attorneys-mitternight.html
WWL has it as: “Danielle Mitternight, hired in September 2010, one month before Young took office.”
Ok, after he was elected. And let’s face it even before he was elected everyone knew he would be elected.
Did Theriot really go make hires at that late stage? From the Connick firm no less? Seriously doubtful, right?
So really that’s a Young hire, not that of the “prior administration,” Capella’s fave phrase.
From the Connick firm, to the JP PA, back to the Connick firm. Ye ol’ Connick shuffle.
She looks like a nice enough girl, and the sad thing is she’s fairly young, and likely via her mentors was instructed that it would be ‘ok’ to just put down a second zip, which is pretty sad from an ethical standpoint coming from other attorneys. Did someone actually instruct her to do that? Now, she has this stain on her record. Really, thanks, boss.
By the way, I’m against the residency standard, in JP, or anywhere else. But Gate’s right, the law’s the law, and apparently there is a corruption in the system. This one’s on Young and apparently he just got caught.
OK, correction:
“Ok, after he was elected. And let
Tele, 70121 & 70123 are in Jeff Parish, Old Jefferson and Harahan – Elmwood areas. I wonder if they rent an apt for “cover’.
Turtle:
Snap, you’re right, my apologies.
Who knows who does what, but Gruntz is 70123.
Hof is 70123-2542 which is pretty close to Elmwood, but might be by the River.
And Foto is 70123 which could be say Harahan.
So apologies from this quarter, truly.
But I will say that there should be no end of checking with the krewe they work for.
How about:
Alvin Dupre, Parish Attorney, 70471, in Mandeville, right?
Connie Powell, Parish Attorney, 70068, in LaPlace, right?
O.K. Check out the link. If Hof is 70123-2542, he is using a business as his home address listing… http://www.openfos.com/supply/CORPORATE-MARKETING-INC-2002454/print.htm. I think we now may have more fresh meat.
Here is the link from LA SOS http://www.openfos.com/supply/CORPORATE-MARKETING-INC-2002454/print.htm. Robert Bourgeois owns the business.
Turtle, I dunno, you thankfully talked me down. Hof is also in the book on Jefferson Highway, that could be hs residence, even with the “-2542”.
Now I always thought Hof’s presence at the PA was a big question mark, what is he doing there, how did he get there, who brought him in and from where, what does he actually do, is he actually there at work? But I am not sure the zip necessarily shows anything sketchy. My guess is that is still likely his residence on Jeff Hwy.
It may have been a screwy look-up also. After further review the extension comes up for several locations. Don’t know what happened! I thought the extension was for a specific addy and now it looks like perhaps not.
So when did he become the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee?
Mr. Ronald J Hof Primary Address:
9905 Jefferson Hwy
City: River Ridge
State: LA
Zip: 70123
Telephone: (504) 305-1591
Fax:
* Parish: JEFFERSON
Law Firm: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee
* Board District: 2nd – LSBA Board District
* Judicial District : 24th – Judicial District
Date Admitted: 10/24/1975
Ha.
There’s gold in them thar hills after all.
Hof is abysmal as a bankruptcy trustee. He is totally worthless and is only there to collect a quick check.
On to other matter of interest
http://www.propublica.org/article/spillionaires-profiteering-mismanagement-in-the-wake-of-the-bp-oil-spill
Barry Bordelon is the B. Don’t know the K. Wonder what type of work this corp did?
Ron Hof obviously goes waaaaay back with Bordelon.
**********************************************
Name Type City Status
B & K CONSULTANTS, L.L.C. Limited Liability Company NEW ORLEANS Inactive
Business: B & K CONSULTANTS, L.L.C. Charter Number: 34466604 K Registration Date: 6/20/1994
Domicile Address
435 28TH ST.
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70124
Mailing Address
435 28TH ST.
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70124
Status: Inactive
Inactive Reason: Action by Secretary of State
File Date: 6/20/1994
Last Report Filed: N/A
Type: Limited Liability Company
Registered Agent(s)
Agent: RONALD J. HOF
Address 1: 821 GRAVIER ST., STE. 1100
City, State, Zip: NEW ORLEANS, LA 70112
Appointment Date: 6/20/1994
Officer(s) Additional Officers: No
Officer: BARRY H. BORDELON
Title: Member
Address 1: 1112 ARTHUR LANE
City, State, Zip: BARATARIA, LA 70036
Officer: PATRICK J. KOLOSKI
Title: Member
Address 1: 435 28TH ST.
City, State, Zip: NEW ORLEANS, LA 70124
Amendments on File (1)
Description Date
Revoked 8/16/2005
DANIELLE PALMATIER MITTERNIGHT
Any relation to ? ( I direct your attention to his place of employment)
Mr. Timothy J Palmatier
Primary Address:
400 Royal St Ste 1190
City: New Orleans
State: LA
Zip: 70130-8101
Telephone: (504) 310-2550
Fax: (504) 310-2608
* Parish: ORLEANS
Law Firm: LA Supreme Court
* Board District: 1st – LSBA Board District
* Judicial District : Orleans Parish
Date Admitted: 4/12/1985
Quel surpris! that Danielle worked for Catharine the Supreme.
Theoretically speaking: if two Assistant Parish Attorneys in the Jefferson Parish Attorney’s office admitted to their PAO supervisors and to the FBI and the Grand Jury that they used the Parish equipment to perform private work for Lagniappe Industries, Tim Coulon, Tim Whitmer and Hippo Katz in the furtherance of the conspiracy of the Insurance Fraud Scheme, would they not be subject to being charged with numerous Ethics and Law violations and should they not be dismissed from their employment with the Parish Attorney’s office?
A little birdie dropped the names of two such creatures , rumoring also that the two are ‘close friends’ and that the she dragged the he into the mess because of her close connections with her ‘friends’ Timmy and Tommy. Hmmm, sounds too real not to be true n’est-ce-pas? Who could they be?
Tele and Turtle,
Don
Is Mary Elizabeth Salvaggio Bourgeois related to the Bobby Bourgeois who was fired by John Young?
Gate, you’re right, I have been missing that
Is he still around?
He’s been at the Parish Attorney’s office since ??? (appearing in 1993 in the one and only news story that even mentions him, in a piece suggesting he drafted a BB gun ordinance). ****29 years, according to this, with a salary of $15,500.
“HOF RONALD Law ASSISTANT PARISH ATTORNEY I 15,449.98 0.00 29”
http://www.jeffparish.net/downloads/3753/7045-SALARY0531wOTByLastName.pdf
In the past he has also been attorney to the St. John The Baptish Council (at least as late as 2003).
On Page 59 of an audit that I think has been seen before it also says “Currently,
you are assigned to the Fire Civil Service Board, the Lafreniere Park Advisory Board, the Department of Parks and Recreation and to handle Cable issues.”
AND he’s a bankruptcy trustee?
AND he has some supposed role at the PA office? Which is, what, again?
AND he has a private law office in downtown New Orleans (1010 Common)?
Sorry, Gate, my motor control went nuts and it posted before I could finish…
I was going to say you’re right I have missed that WDSU piece.
And that $15,0000 salary figure looks awfully familiar.
Ron Hof has to be part of that picture, no?
He must be related to Willie Hof somehow? A brother perhaps?
To “telemachus”: Do you happen to know Ms. Mitternight’s term of service as law clerk to “Injustice” Kimball? This is the woman (“Titty Thimble”), who used her influence with her “pimps”, Foti and Plattsmier, to have the “goon squad” sicked on me in the aftermath of KATRINA. Anyone who wants to know “more” about this can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt1lgUNKBMQ. And since then (September 2005) “the Thimble” has been obstructing justice by engaging in a massive “cover-up”. I aver, upon information and belief, that if Ms. Mitternight was law clerk to the Chief “Injustice” at any time since 8/29/05, then she must be part of the “cover-up”, at least, and maybe even a co-conspirator. We KNOW that Ms. Mitternight has committed FRAUD, don’t we? What other crimes has she committed? Ashton O’Dwyer.
Hey AOD, fyi, it’s shown as:
“Law Clerk to Justice Catherine D. Kimball, Louisiana Supreme Court State of Louisiana, 8/2006-7/2007”
http://www.connicklaw.com/attorneys-mitternight.html
RELATING TO THE CHANNEL 6 REPORT:
And people wonder why this man needed to be run out of the Parish Attorney
They call him…. “SUITCASE.”
– 6.3.89 TP, by James Welsh; I have no idea what he was getting at but overall the gist was clear:
“BOUDREAUX READIES FOR HIS TRIP DOWN THE DANUBE”
“””We had lost touch for a while, but standing in the checkout line at the sporting goods store, I recognized my old buddy Boudreaux.
As usual, he was looking pretty snappy. He wore a pair of white canvas yachting shoes, gleaming white slacks, a silk shirt and a blue blazer with a gold crest over the breast pocket. His jet-black pompadour was tucked up under a white captain’s cap with gold braid on the visor.
His arms were full of boating paraphernalia: life jackets, a small brass bell and a rolled-up navigational chart.
He was indeed looking prosperous for a man who hailed from Wetknee Parish and started his political career as a lowly undercover agent in Sheriff Harry Lee’s Special Extraneous Reserve Mounted Posse.
His resume has been checkered, but the last time we talked, Boudreaux had been director of marketing and international relations for Aaron Broussard’s Louisiana Family Festival.
“So what’s up, Bood?” I asked while he put his merchandise down on the cashier’s counter.
He turned and saw me, removed his captain’s hat and waved it with a grandiose gesture. Then he crammed his pompadour back under the hat, snapped to attention and saluted.
“How do ya like the togs?”
“Very striking, Boudreaux. But I didn’t know you were a yachtsman. What’s all this about?”
A look of disgust crossed his dark face, and I knew he was marveling at my stupidity.
“Haven’t you heard?” he said. “I’m taking a cruise down the Danube as part of my new position. I was just appointed Special Assistant Executive Director of the Jefferson Parish Commission for International Trade With Eastern European Communist Nations.”
“Congratulations, Bood. That’s quite a mouthful. But I never heard of that agency. Is it new?”
He looked momentarily irritated.
“Well, it’s not official on paper yet. But it’s just a matter of time ’till my boss, Paul Connick Sr ., gets it shoved through the Parish Council.”
“Connick? Isn’t he that executive assistant to Mike Yenni, the parish president? He’s the assistant ********they call ‘Suitcase’ because he travels so much, isn’t he?”
Boudreaux literally beamed with pride.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s my boss. But it’s actually the other way around. ***********Mike Yenni really works for Paul, ’cause everybody knows ********Suitcase is the one who runs Jefferson Parish. Why, he’s already got our first trade mission to Bulgaria planned and funded. We just sent a $17,000 deposit for the trip.”
I thought I must have been hearing things.
“Bulgaria?”
“Well, of course, Bulgaria. And after we cruise down the Danube, we’ll be checking on economic development possibilities in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.”
“Well, is the parish president going along on this trip?”
Boudreaux looked smug.
“I don’t think Suitcase asked him,” he said. “Besides, who needs him, when we have Paul?”
“Forgive my stupidity, Boudreaux. But I’m having a little difficulty figuring out what kind of trade anybody in Bulgaria might want to do with Jefferson Parish – or vice versa. What local businessman would possibly spend his money for a far-fetched trip like this?”
“Well, that’s the trouble with you nattering nabobs of negativism in the press. All you do when someone comes up with a good idea is pick nits. I’ll have you know that at least two members of our fine business community have already given us a definite possibility of a maybe on this.”
“Oh, yeah? Who are they?”
“Can’t divulge that yet, old buddy. You’ll know soon enough.”
Then it was his turn to check out. I noticed he used an American Express card with the name “Parish of Jefferson” on it. And when he signed the charge slip, he signed this name with a grand flourish: M-I-C-H-A-E-L Y-E-N-N-I.
“Boudreaux,” I said, nonplussed. “Did I just see you sign the parish president’s name to that?”
“Oh, relax,” he said. “That’s the way we get things done in parish government. Besides, Mike doesn’t mind. Hell, everybody does it.”
Then he was gone in a flash of blue and white. I watched him leave the store and wheel off in a parish car. The bumper sticker said: Things Are Good and Getting Better in Jefferson Parish. “”””
Gate, Paul Connick Sr. was Yenni’s CAO. Connick worked for six parish presidents.
I mean, does anyone believe he even showed up for work?
How many of these people actually showed up for work?
The paralegal certificate thing and residency thing are indeed small beans. People ar just getting paid, period. And this stuff does not reflect the retirement pay:
“”””Five months after retiring with a full pension and praise for an illustrious career, longtime Jefferson Parish Public Utilities Director Peter Russo remains on the parish payroll at $31.41 an hour.
The arrangement has drawn criticism from several parish councilmen, who say Russo performs few if any duties in Parish President Mike Yenni’s administration. They also question the legality of his employment.
Yenni Chief Administrative Assistant Tim Coulon says the hiring was legal, though he said Russo’s status is unique among parish employees.
Russo, 64, retired Sept. 30 after a 37-year career that brought him credit for restoring public confidence in a department rocked by scandal in the 1970s. Beginning Oct. 1, he received a monthly retirement benefit of $4,764.50, or $57,174 a year, which is 100 percent of his pay before retirement.
But Russo’s retirement lasted only a weekend. On Oct. 3, he returned to the parish payroll at an hourly wage roughly equivalent to the salary he received as public utilities director. “””
3.10.89 – how often has this happened????
************************
One other side note – about the Doomsday Plan, which supposedly was originally drafted under Coulon, though Broussard supposedly tweaked it in 2005 if I recall correctly (do I?):
Coulon’s Director of Emergency Management, who I’m thinking would have been involved in the drafting of that “Plan” (and by the way, “RUN AWAY” is not a “PLAN”)???
William Connick Sr.
******************************
SOP, you sly son of a gun, I get it now. It’s not the Suitcae they call him after all.
I am laughing my ass off right now. This has been like a great mystery novel and I think I just got the plot.
Wowwee.
What a cute story Welsh tells. That is one of tele’s best finds to date. It makes flamboyant corruption seem like something enviable. How many overt acts or inferences of corruption are conveyed in that one brief meeting between Welsh and his buddy “Bood.” Maybe that’s how Stephanie Grace initially viewed Broussard’s Dom Perignon trick . . . until she realized lots of people do not romanticize this corrupt bullshit. I wonder what Welsh would say about it today?
To “telemachus”: Thank you very much for the information concerning Ms. Mitternight and her former “boss”, Chief “Injustice” Titty Thimble. The dates of employment, namely 8/06 to 7/07, put her squarely within the “obstruction of justice” category. I sued “the Thimble” and others in September 2006, and I could simply NOT BELIEVE that the law clerk for the “Injustice” did not do any legal research for her boss in the case, which would have revealed to the law clerk that her boss was a CRIMINAL who, along with her co-conspirators, belonged in JAIL. And it is fairly obvious that Ms. Mitternight learned her lessons on how to LIE and to commit PUBLIC PAYROLL FRAUD from “Titty” very well. I wonder if Plattsmier, who still works for “Titty Thimble”, will take notice of the violation of law by M. Mitternight. Ashton O’Dwyer.
Sock, Pretty damned appalling, no? Or is that apaulling?
These are the Burkes we’ve known:
—Burke, E. D.
The Burkes go way back with the Connicks. Scoring a meet and greet with Mike Yenni’s widow was been a goal of mine for months. I hear some bad blood between the former Mrs and the Connicks.
The Connicks made sure Yenni had it all right down to the girlfriend, who was taken care of after he died.
Vices are a method of control.
sop
Some years before my Dad’s death in December 2001, we joined The Ancient Order of Hibernians, which met, if I recall correctly, on Wednesday night. After the cocktail hour and business meeting, my Dad and I would retire to Antoine’s for a “Father-Son” dinner (taking a taxicab, of course). On many an evening, Dad would have Antoine’s (he went to Jesuit High School with the Maitre’d Henry Alciatore, and Dad and former Attorney General “Billy” Guste were in each others weddings) prepare a tray of Oysters Rockerfeller to bring home to my Mother and Sisters who lived with my Mom and Dad. Anyway, being in the Ancient Order of Hibernians made one feel like a Member of a Tribe, and more particularly a WHITE (Northern European Celts) tribe that still clung to things like “Ward Politics”, “Ward Bosses” and LOYALTY to a cause and to those who espoused the cause. Quite a contrast from “Hey MuthaFucka”, “Please don’t shoot me!”, and “junk cars and glass in the street” which you will still find in every black neighborhood in New Orleans, along with several dead bodies, victims of gunshot wounds. If I’m not mistaken, one of the Burkes, whose Family had been in office for many. many years, LOST the race for Assessor of the Garden District Area (I’m sure the area was “bigger” than the Garden District) to BETTY JEFFERSON, who “socked it to the Whites” and otherwise made a real mess of things. While Betty Jefferson has not yet spent a day in jail to my knowledge, her day is coming. My disenchantment with the Ancient Order of Hibernians came post-KATRINA, when “Brother Jim McKay”, a Judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, betrayed me, his principles and the law, by voting to affirm a lower Court decision, “on-the-papers”, without even a transcript, and without oral argument before him (he was too embarrassed to look me in the eye), dismissing my claims against my former law partners for falsely informing me in the aftermath of KATRINA that “Titty Thimble’s” PIMP, Plattsmier, had suspended me for the practice of law (among other things). I no longer want to belong to any tribe that McKay belongs to. Ashton O’Dwyer.
My dear Ashton,
What ever made you think that tribe out-trumped tribute…Oysters Rockerfeller ?
Whitmergate
That was Ronnie Burke that got steamrolled by the Jefferson Machine.
Speaking of The Irish Channel St. Patricks Day Parade, I would love to have a peek-see at the 501(c)(3) filings. With approx. 1100 members at approx. $70 a head in dues and all of the other avenues of income; inquiring minds want to know just how much goes to St. Michaels and how much goes to the Burkes.